Do Republicans want to win the congressional election if they have to resort to reckless fear-mongering? Apparently, the answer is yes. A Republican National Committee email went out on Tuesday with this headline "Democrats Would Let Terrorists Free." What's the RNC's proof that Democrats would actually set terrorists loose? It's that some Democrats voted against the White House-backed military tribunal bill. But disagreeing with some of provisions of that legislation is hardly the same thing as handing terrorists get-out-of-jail cards. That email declared, "House Democrats Said They Did Not Believe in Interrogating Terrorists." Really? Was there any Democratic ninny who expressed such a view?
Here's the evidence the RNC provided: Representative Solomon Ortiz, a Texas Democrat, said of the military tribunal bill, "Why are we rushing into this?...We should not be in a hurry." There's often a certain poetic license in political hit jobs. But this attack goes beyond the usual truth-stretching boundaries into a realm of bizarro fiction--or, one might say--lying.
CORN V. GREENBERG RE WOODWARD: Day 2. David Greenberg responds to my critique of Bob Woodward (see below) today at The New Republic's site. If you read my opening shot, please read his. Greenberg closes his reply with this parry:
Let me pose a question. If you had to terminate at a stroke the journalistic careers of, say, (a) Maureen Dowd, George Will, Chris Matthews, Bill Moyers, David Brooks, Tim Russert, Rush Limbaugh, and everyone on Air America; or (b) Bob Woodward, which would you choose? If we chose to retire the passel of pundits, I don't think our public discourse would be much the poorer. If we chose to retire Woodward, I think we would be vastly worse off.
My answer to that will be out tomorrow.
CIVIL WAR YET? Not in Iraq, but within the GOP. As regular readers know, I've been reporting that some non-Republican gay politicos have been using the Mark Foley scandal to try to set off a cat-fight within the Republican PArty between social cons and gay Republicans. These politicos are peeved at gay Republicans who serve a party that opposes gay rights and that welcomes (and needs) the support of religious right outfits that demonize gays and lesbians. The Los Angeles Times reports:
Some conservative Christians, who are pivotal to the GOP's get-out-the-vote effort, are charging that gay Republican staffers in Congress may have thwarted their legislative agenda. There are even calls for what some have dubbed a "pink purge" of high-ranking gay Republicans on Capitol Hill -- and in the administration.
The long simmering tension between gays and the religious right within the GOP has erupted into open conflict at a sensitive time, just weeks before a midterm election that may cost Republicans control of Congress.
"The big tent strategy could ultimately spell doom for the Republican Party," said Tom McClusky, chief lobbyist for the Family Research Council, a Christian organization that champions marriage. "All a big tent strategy seems to be doing is attracting a bunch of clowns."
Now the GOP is facing a hard choice -- risk losing the social conservatives who are legendary for turning out the vote, or risk alienating the moderate voters who are critical to this year's midterm outcome....
The tension between gays and evangelicals in the GOP re-emerged in recent weeks during the page scandal involving former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla. The scandal drew scrutiny to the presence -- and behavior -- of gays in the Republican party, including Foley and several House staff members.
One evangelical leader, Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, said in a television interview last week there should be an investigation into whether gay congressional staffers were responsible for covering up Foley's habits of picking up men at parties and sending salacious messages to male pages.
Perkins also has questioned whether gay Republican staffers on Capitol Hill have torpedoed their priority issues, such as a Federal Marriage Amendment that would prohibit civil unions for gays. "Has the social agenda of the GOP been stalled by homosexual members and/or staffers?" he asked in an e-mail to supporters....
This week a list of allegedly gay Republican staffers has been circulated to several Christian and family values groups, presumably to encourage an outing and purge....[F]or gay Republican staffers on Capitol Hill, it feels as if the noose is tightening. Fearful of having their names on such a list and losing their jobs after the election, they are trying to keep a low profile.
There's no outright fight yet, but the provocateurs do seem to be moving things along.
Posted by David Corn at October 18, 2006 09:56 AM
